Beautiful Runner
by BlueLily27
Summary: Hermione has found a new running buddy and a new love at the Burrow, and fate magically put them together. i stick at summaries. R
1. Chapter 1

**I own nothing; Harry Potter and all those wonderful characters are Ms. Rowling's, and Beautiful Dreamer is Stephen Foster's.**

**This is dedicated to Seiina13 who (thankfully, or this never would have gotten finished) made me keep writing this story.**

"Everyone get down here!" Mrs. Weasley yelled. Groans moans and "Aw Mum"s could be heard through the air. Ron screamed "Bloody hell" as he looked at his clock, but in five minutes, the youngest four Weasley children could be seen trudging into the kitchen of the Burrow, all wishing they were still in bed sleeping.

"Your father and I have decided that you're each allowed to invite one friend over for the summer with, of course, our consent of your choice of friend." She glared at Fred and George. "However, they will be asked to leave for the last week before school starts." Mrs. Weasley looked at the four of her children and then went over to the stove. "You can invite them today, and we'll arrange a time and date to pick them up. _They must_ have the consent of their parents to come, and they must sleep in you own rooms." She came over and placed pancakes in front of each of her children.

"Now eat up. Write your letters, and _clean your rooms!_" A grumble of "Yes Mum"s was heard as they ate their breakfast and went back to their rooms.

Ron knocked on the twin's door. The door opened and Fred stuck his head out of the door.

"What'd ya want?" Fred asked as he rubbed the sleep away from his eyes.

"Had a question for you two," Ron said, only a little bit more awake than his brother.

"Yeah?" Fred said, opening the door to reveal George lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling.

"I was wondering if either of you two might invite Harry over."

"And why would we do that?" Fred asked skeptically.

"Well," said Ron, "I wanted to have both Harry and Hermione over, but I can only invite one of them. So…will you?"

"Can't little bro. I'm inviting Lee. We've got some great ideas, and we want to see if he'll have any ideas to help improve them."

"Oh." Ron looked downcast. "George? What about you? Will you invite Harry so we can have both him and Hermione here?"

"I won't invite Harry," George said slowly, "but I'll invite Hermione if you want 'em both." A look of what Ron thought might be shyness came across his face.

"Sure," Ron said slowly, knowing there was a reason other than generosity behind this, yet smart enough not to ask his brother what it was. "Thanks," he said, closing the door behind him and thumping his way down the stairs.

"Hey, Mum, do you have some ink, a quill, and some parchment I can use?"

"Yes, dear, they're on the top of my filing cabinet. Who are you writing to, Harry or Hermione?"

"Harry. George's inviting Hermione." After seeing his mother's suspicious look, Ron held his hands up in protection. "I know nothing of his plans, don't look at _me _like that," he said quickly. He took one last look at the piercing see-through look in his mother's eyes and hid his head in the filing cabinet. He had everything out and was beginning his letter when he heard his mother screaming.

"Fred, George, Ginny, the lot of you get down here. I want your letters mailed by tomorrow!" There was thumping on the stairs and everyone that was home came into the kitchen and sat down. Inkbottles, quills and parchment flew to land in front of everybody. "Now I want all of you to write a letter inviting your soon-to-be guest over. Your letter is to be done by the end of the day."

A chorus of "Yes, Mum"s was heard, followed by the scratch-scratch of quills as everyone wrote their letter. By the end, Ron's could read;

Hey Harry,

Tell the muggles you're leaving for the summer and that we'll pick you up- Ow! Mum just whacked me over the head! She says I have to write a proper letter. So, here goes.

Dear Harry,

If it is pleasing to you, we would much appreciate it if you would join us here for the rest of the summer. If it is convenient, we can pick you up Saturday, July 10 at 5:30p.m via the floo network from you aunt and uncle's home.

Sincerely Yours,

Ronald Weasley

P.S. Mum said I over did it. Pooy on her.

Hermione looked up from her desk as an owl tapped on her window. She opened it up as she recognized it as Errol – the Weasley's owl. It carried two letters. One said "Open first" in Ron's large handwriting. The letter read as follows.

Dear Hermione,

The other letter is a letter from George. Mum told us we could each invite one friend over, and he offered to invite you over Harry. _Don't ask me _why George is inviting you; _I have no idea_. Anyway, Mum's asked me to ask you if you'll spend a courteous 15 minutes a day with George, considering he _was_ the one to actually invite you. His letter will give you all the details of picking you up; send Errol back with replies to both letters.

Hope to see you soon,

Ron

Hermione opened the other letter she knew to be George's. It read,

Dear Hermione,

Ron and I were wondering if you'd like to spend the summer at the Burrow. I'm not sure what Ron said in his letter, but if you can come, writes us back and we'll pick you up at 4:30p.m, Saturday July 10.

Yours,

George

Hermione started at the letter, a bit confused. Possible answers to the question: "Why on earth is George Weasley really inviting me over for the summer?" were rapidly going through her head.

She sat down at her desk and started composing a reply.

Dear Ron and George,

Ron, tell your mother I would be happy to courteously spend those 15 minutes each day. George, 4:30p.m on Saturday is a great time to pick me up, but be sure to use the downstairs fireplace if you're traveling by floo powder, because the upstairs one is a gas fireplace.

Sincerely,

Hermione

Hermione sealed the envelope and sent Errol off into the night after giving him some water and an owl treat.

Hermione heard a thud coming from the basement. She checked her watch; it was 4:35. So they were a little late. No big deal.

"Mum," she called, "Dad, they're here." She grabbed the last two of her bags and ran down the stairs. Ron and George Weasley were toppled on the ground in front of the fireplace.

"Hi, boys," Hermione chirped. She dragged Ron off of George and said, "How have you summers been going?" George stood up and brushed himself off.

"It's been going pretty well; Fred and I have been inventing several more Skiving Snackboxes for a joke shop we're thinking about setting up, but they need working on; there's still several bad side effects." George looked over at Ron who was bent over examining Hermione's old CD player. However, he straightened up when Hermione's parents came down the stairs.

"Mum, Dad, you've met Ron, this is his brother, George. George, these are my parents."

They exchanged greetings, Hermione said good-bye to her parents, took a handful of the floo powder from the Tupperware Ron was holding and she and her bags disappeared in a flash of green flame. Ron and George nodded their head in the Granger's direction and were off with Hermione's trunk between them.

Hermione landed in the kitchen of the Burrow. She straightened up, hearing Mrs. Weasley fuss over the dust on the bookshelf in the family room as she did.

"Hello," she called tentatively as Ron and George appeared in the fireplace behind her.

"Hello, dear," said Mrs. Weasley, rushing into the kitchen to give Hermione a hug. "Now I want you to take you bags upstairs. You'll be sleeping in Ginny's room, the boys will show you which one it is. You boys get her trunk, yes?" The boys nodded, and started up the stairs.

They dropped Hermione's stuff off in Ginny's room, and then they all went to the Dursley's and picked Harry up. After getting him settled in Ron's room, George turned to Hermione.

"Do you like to run? Ron said you didn't much like flying."

"I'll run. When? Where?" Hermione asked

"Met me on the back porch at 7:30." George turned and walked up to his and Fred's room, where Lee had already settled in.

Hermione came down the stairs in shorts, a spaghetti strap running top and sneakers. Her hair was in a ponytail. She walked by Ron, who ran into the wall because his attention was so focused on Hermione's "new look." She walked over to him and pushed his chin way up; it was halfway to the floor.

George was already there when she got to the porch. His eyes sized her up.

"Where are we running," she asked, pretending she hadn't seen where his eyes had been lingering.

"Down to the woods; there's something I want to show you," he said, averting his gaze. "I don't know how far you're used to running, so I brought brooms for us to ride, if we need them. _Reducio_," he said pointing his wand at the two broomsticks. He put them in his pocket, and started running at a medium pace. It was easy for Hermione to keep up with him.

After they had been running for about half and hour, George slowed down. They were in front of a rather large pond surrounded by trees. The sun was just starting to go behind the trees and the sky had started changing colors. Hermione gasped as she took in the view.

"It's beautiful," she whispered. She saw George staring at her out of the corner of her eye, but she pretended not to notice. They stood there for a while, staring at the sky.

"We should go back," George said, checking his watch. "I told Mum we'd be back by 9:00, and it's already 8:30."

Hermione turned around, agreeing. "Do you want to run back? I mean, I probably could, but…" she trailed off.

George looked incredulous. "You're still up for running!? I didn't know you were such a great long-distance runner! I don't think I can even make it all the way home!"

"Okay, we can fly," said Hermione, looking bemused.

"Sorry, perhaps I can get up my endurance later in the summer." He looked in his pocket for the brooms. After a couple minutes he called Hermione, who had wandered off. "Hermione? I seem to be able to only find one broom, so…" He got on the broom. "Climb on," he said, nodding behind him. She clambered on behind him, wrapping her arms gingerly around his waist. He looked down at her arms, and they both blushed a deep red. He kicked off, and Hermione closed her eyes, squeezing her arms tighter around George's waist in fear. However, in no time at all they had landed behind the back porch.

"We're back, Mum," George shouted into the house. They slipped inside, and agreed to meet at the same time in the same place tomorrow evening.

The summer continued uneventfully; Hermione and George continued their runs. George's endurance greatly improved. By the end of July, he could run both to the pond and back.


	2. Chapter 2

**I own nothing; it's all JK Rowling's. Boo Hoo**

Hermione was sitting in Ginny's room, thinking about the run they'd went on the night before. Everyone else had been playing Quidditch. Last night had been the first night that George had been able to run the entire run; both ways. They had taken a nice, long break at the pond, looking at the sunset, then laying down and gazing at the starts. For Hermione, however, the entire evening had been ruined by the way back. They'd never gotten to fly, not even a little bit. Not only did she miss flying – which with George's help she'd grown to like – but she'd also missed wrapping her hands around George's waist to "stay on." Earlier in the summer, he'd shown her now to stay on without holding his waist, but Hermione had claimed that she "didn't feel safe" when she wasn't holding on to his waist. By that time Hermione had grown to enjoy her arms hugging George.

"What! No!" Hermione mentally slapped herself. "You shouldn't be thinking about that! BAD THOUGHTS! Stop that!"

After Hermione had thoroughly mentally slapped herself, she re-examined why she had been thinking those thoughts. She shuddered.

"In the words of Scarlett O'Hara," she thought, "I'll think about that later." She looked around Ginny's room. She had never really examined it before. Ginny had a small white desk, next to a set of drawers. Then was a night stand, and her bed. In the wall opposite that was a small closet, filled with shelves, hangers and clothes. On her night stand, Ginny had a picture of all the Weasley children in Egypt, all in front of a pyramid. They were all covered in freckles from the sun, and it looked like they all had a tan. Starting from the left was Mr. Weasley, hugging his wife, who was hugging Ginny. On Ginny's other side was George, Fred, Ron, Percy, Charlie, and then Bill. All were waving frantically.

"_Engorgio_," Hermione muttered. The picture grew to twice its original size, and Hermione could better see George. It was a good photo. She pointed her wand at the photo after taking it out of the frame. First she replicated it, placing the original back in the frame. Then, muttering "_Diffindo_" she cut out everyone except George and vowed to always keep the photo with her.

"C'mon, George, you're being slow," Hermione shouted through Fred and George's door.

"Be down in a couple minutes," George shouted back. Hermione shook her head.

"I'm heading out; you can catch up whenever on the broom. I'll wait at the pond."

Hermione ran all the way to the pond by herself. George never caught up with her. She sat for a while, and then finally lay down to get a better look at the sky. However, she soon got tired of staring at the sky, not being able to focus on its beauty because of George's absence. She sat up and looked behind her; she couldn't see any movement in the woods.

After thoroughly checking the woods, Hermione took out the little picture of George that had been in her pocket. Gazing at his face, she felt her stomach flutter. Smiling, she kissed his forehead. She loved that picture.

"Hermione," a voice said behind her. "Why do you have a picture of me?"

George was sitting in a tree behind where Hermione was sitting. He'd had a harder time getting up there than usual, because he didn't want to ruin his shirt or tie, so he'd landed up here, off of his broom. _"Shirt and tie."_ That's what Fred had told him after George told him told him what he wanted.

Flashback 

_"I want her to notice me, Fred. I want her to really notice me." Fred spun around at his twin's voice. George had been moping around all day, and as his twin, Fred knew George would tell him eventually. Fred checked the hall for Lee, who had been sent down to help Mrs. Weasley identify his socks out of the laundry pile. No one was there. _

_"Who?" Fred said. "Who do you want to notice you?" George opened his mouth to say something when there was a knock on the door._

_Hermione's voice drifted through the door. "C'mon, George, you're being slow."_

_George nodded his head at the door, mouthed "her" at Fred and yelled, "Be down in a couple minutes."_

_"I'm heading out, you can catch up whenever. I'll wait at the pond." Fred and George heard Hermione walk down the stairs._

_After checking the stairs to make sure Hermione was all the way down, Fred closed the door and spoke._

_"Her? You like Hermione?" George looked down at his hands that were in his lap and muttered something about her. Fred could swear he caught the words "hot," "top," and "running." He grinned._

_"Well," Fred said aloud, "I find that a shirt, tie and nice jeans are a perfect way to melt girls' knees. Then all you've got to do is catch her when her knees give away, and you've got yourself a girl." Fred had closed his eyes, and when he was finished speaking, he opened then. He looked around for George, and saw him already rummaging through their closet. Fred chuckled._

_Fifteen minutes later, George was on his broom slowly making his way to the pond. He didn't want to catch up to Hermione until she was at the pond. Fred had said the "art of surprise" melted knees the quickest._

_End Flashback_

George had come out of his hiding place in the tree when he was Hermione kissing the picture she had pulled out of her pocket. He had to see who it was. "Her parents, surely," he thought, half wishing it was true, half knowing it was not. He snuck up behind her and saw the picture was…of him. It was a cut-out of the picture for the _Prophet_ of them all in Egypt. Momentarily forgetting that Hermione had just been kissing his picture, he asked, "Hermione…why do you have a picture of me?"


	3. Chapter 3

**Again, I own nothing, Harry Potter and characters are JK Rowling's, although I wonder if I could legally take all the characters she evilly killed off…**

**Anyway, the song Beautiful Dreamer belongs to Stephen Foster, although as you will see, I made up some of the words. **

It had taken Hermione a couple seconds to realize that it was George that had spoken. However, once she had, she quickly bounced up. She turned around. Hermione's jaw dropped at the sight she saw. George Weasley was wearing dress shirt and tie. She was subconsciously aware that her jaw couldn't have dropped any further to the ground.

George took a step closer to Hermione. She looked beautiful tonight, her hair being gently blown by the wind. Her brown eyes looked vividly alive as her jaw dropped. After realizing that Hermione had been kissing a picture of him, he was more eager than ever to know why – more importantly how – she had gotten a picture of him. With all her beauty, George had forgotten that he was wearing a shirt and tie.

Hermione felt her stomach flutter and her heart pound against her chest when George had taken a step closer.

George felt _his_ knees beginning to melt as the clouds moved to allow the moon to shine on Hermione's already beautiful face. "Wait," he thought, beginning to panic a bit. "This isn't supposed to be happening." _Her_ knees were supposed to be melting, not _his_. He reached forward and touched her face; putting his hand along her jawbone. The nervousness of the situation having past, George felt like he was in a dream. A very _good_ dream.

Gently pulling his hand down her face, George rubbed her lip with his thumb. _So soft._ What would those lips feel like against his? He had to find out. He pulled his hand down to her still-dropped chin, pushing it up, so the bottom lip touched the top. He leaned in, placing his lips lightly on her velvety soft ones. _"Sweet bliss,"_ George thought as he felt Hermione respond almost instantly. She wrapped her hands around his neck and leaned into him, pressing her lips harder against his.

George started to wrap his hands around her waist, when all of a sudden, the kiss ended just as abruptly as it had begun. He stepped back and closed his eyes in surprise. By the time he opened them, Hermione was on the ground, knees hugged to her chest, chin down in her knees. She was facing with her back towards him, rocking. He knelt beside her.

"Hermione?" he said, tentatively putting his hand on her moving back. "I…Is everything okay?" She breathed in sharply, and George almost took his hand off Hermione's back.

"I…I…don't know if I can do this, George." Hermione's voice was a little shaky. I…I _want_ to do it, but…well…Ron and I…We…we sort of were…sending glances at each other." Her voice got stronger as she spoke, but she started crying softly. I lead him on, George, I know I did. I just…don't think it'd be very…nice if I was seen with you. I…oh, George, I hate myself." Hermione whispered the last sentence. George sat down next to Hermione, leaning against a tree.

"Well," he said, "if that's all…" He stroked her back.

"No, George," she said, "I won't do that to Ron. I won't do that to you, either."

"Neither will Ron." Hermione gave George a questioning glance. "Well, you see, Ron feels the same way you do. He's found a new love in the form of Gabrielle, but won't do anything with her, because _he_ thinks _he_ lead _you_ on. That's why he's been so miserable lately. So…" George looked triumphant, a grin on his face.

Hermione shook her head. "How do you know all this?" she asked.

George assumed a semi-guilty look. "Um…well…Fred and I felt it was our…duty as…older brothers to find out…why Ron was so sad." George finished, looking satisfied with his story. Hermione, on the other hand, looked skeptical.

"So…you read his diary," she clarified. George opened his mouth to object, and then thought better of it. Hermione nodded her head knowingly. She yawned, and then smiled coyly.

"Mind if I take a quick nap?" she asked.

"Not at all," George said, a bit confused. He was surprised when Hermione laid her had on his lap, closing her eyes. She stretched out on her back so she was lying flat, and then made a small smile. George smiled too, taking Hermione's gesture to mean that she was okay with what he had told her.

He sat there watching her for a while, and then found himself daydreaming. He let himself do this for a half an hour, then shook his had to fully awaken himself. He looked down. Hermione's eyes were still closed, and her breathing was heavy.

"She looks _so_ beautiful," George thought. He hadn't the heart to wake her. "_Expecto Patronum_," he muttered. He told the silver fox that appeared to tell his mother, "Hermione fell asleep, and I haven't the heart to wake her. We're still at the pond," then sent it off.

"So beautiful is the sleeper who dreams," George recited out loud. It was a favorite quote of his mother's. "Beautiful Dreamer," he thought, stroking Hermione's hair. He then started to sing a song, twisting the words so that they fit the setting.

"_Beautiful dreamer, wake unto me,_

_ You are sleeping next to a tree._

_ Brown bushy hair you, are really smart,_

_ And I am hoping to win your heart."_

George heard Hermione's voice come into song, also inventing her own words.

"_Sorry to say but I am awake_

_ And I think that your singing is great._

_ You were trying to win over me_

_ However you'd won me previously._

_ I've loved you just as must as you've loved me."_

By now Hermione was sitting up. They joined together in song, this time both singing the real words.

_"Beautiful dreamer, wake unto me_

_ Starlight and dewdrops are waiting for thee._

_ Sound of the rude world, heard in the day,_

_ Lull'd by the moonlight have all pass'd away._

_ Beautiful dreamer, queen of my song,_

_ List while I woo thee with soft melody._

_ Gone are the cares of life's busy throng._

_ Beautiful dreamer awake unto me,_

_ Beautiful dreamer awake unto me."_

They finished together, smiling at one another. Both Hermione and George jumped at the sound of clapping, coming from behind them. They both turned and watched Fred walk into the clearing.

"You guys sound great together," he said.

"Thanks," they responded, smiling at each other.

"You both got what you wanted?" Fred asked. In way of response, Hermione rested her head on George's shoulder. In return, he rested his head on hers.

"Yes," they said together, getting up off the ground, and on to the one broom George brought with him. Fred had his as well. They would not be running today.

"I could get used to this," Hermione thought, her hands around George's waist as they flew into the darkening sky on their way back home. _  
_


End file.
